The Tale of the Two-Tailed Twins
by mneg998
Summary: 3 years after Fairy Tail wins the Grand Magic Games, Lucy, spending time in the library, comes across an old book titled 'The Tale of the Two-Tailed Twins'. The only contents of the book are a painting of two young Fairy Tail children, who have an untold story which Lucy hungers to learn.


Hi, this is _not_ chaptered. It's just a little story of two young Fairy Tail children from long ago, who have an untold story which Lucy wants to know. (Takes place 3 years after the Grand Magic Games)  
Please R&R!

I don't own Fairy Tail or it's characters, they belong to Hiro Mashima.  
I own the twins and their story, though.

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**THE TALE OF THE TWO-TAILED TWINS**

_November 28, X794_

It was one of those everyday days at Fairy Tail, with that everyday brawl and everyday noise. Lucy had set herself up in the library to read the book Levy got her, and occasionally saw the ceiling shake from the fight. She sighed and turned the page. The last page. She felt her heart ache as she did so, she hated finishing books.

_'The two walked back to where Jonathan and Reiko were waiting by the white picket fence, hand in hand._

_"Looks like you two finally got all that you dreamed of!" Laura said and smiled sweetly at the pair. After all they had gone through, they deserved to be happy together at last. Reiko grinned back at Laura and enveloped her in a tight hug._

_"Thank you for all you've done, Laura. I'll never forget you, you're the best friend that I could ask for," A few tears leaked out of her eyes as she let go of the auburn-haired girl. Laura smiled encouragingly and tried in vain to hold back her tears. She finally turned towards Luke, the love of her life, who stood in front of the sunset, his blonde hair glinting in shades of red and orange. Unashamed tears slid down his cheek as he gave Laura a final kiss, their salty tears mingling. No words were spoken as Laura cried into Luke's chest, slowly fading away into the last few rays of sunlight._

_When the sun had set, all that was left was Jonathan gripping a sobbing Reiko, and Luke facing the West, with nothing but a violet ribbon slipping through his fingers.'_

Lucy shut the book, her face wet. She hurriedly sniffled and wiped her eyes. Damn Levy, she thought. Lucy was a sucker for sad stories.

'Okay, Lucy. Calm down,' She said to herself before getting up and striding over to one of the many bookshelves, determinedly grabbing the first book she laid eyes on. As the walked back to her seat, she examined the book. It was bound in fading green leather, and the spine was cracked and falling apart. Curious, she lifted the delicate cover and stared at the fading script.

'_The Tale of the Two-Tailed Twins'_ Lucy frowned and turned another yellowed page, but it was blank. So was the next, and the one after that, and the one after that. Frustrated, Lucy flipped through all the pages, but there wasn't a spot of ink on any of them. Finally, at the back of the book, she found something wedged between the last page and the back cover. Lucy pulled it out as gently as she could, since the last page and the cover were stuck together with magic. Finally freeing it, Lucy stared at the object, which turned out to be a painting, but not one by Reedus.

In the painting, were a pair of smiling twins, one brother and one sister, holding hands. They looked about 10 years old in the painting, both with the same caramel coloured hair and cloudy grey eyes. They were sitting on top of the bar of what looked like the first model of the guild, the one Lucy was introduced to three years ago, well, ten years ago if you count the time she spent on Tenrou island. The girl in the picture wore a cute little lilac dress, which stopped just above her knees, a long wooden cedar stick, gnarled and worn, was leaning against the bar beside her. The boy who was sat on her right, her twin brother, was wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of khaki shorts, several daggers sticking out of his belt. Lucy smiled at the pair, they looked cute. But why did they have an unwritten story? And such an old one at that?

'Lucy?' A voice came out from behind her. Lucy jumped violently and swivelled round, book held above her head, and came face to face with master Makarov, who was standing on the desk behind the one she was sat at.

'Oh, master,' Lucy sighed, relieved. 'You scared me!' She scolded before sitting down and picking up the picture again.

'What are you doing down here, Lucy? The fighting's stopped,' He said, hopping up on the chair beside her.

'Ah...' Lucy mumbled in response, not really listening. She was searching for a date somewhere on the picture. Makarov peered at the picture, and an unidentifiable emotion passed over his aged face.

'Where did you find that?' He asked softly. Lucy looked at him and down at the picture again.

'Eh? Oh, I found it at the back of this book, The... Tale of the Two-Tailed Twins. Do you know who they are?' She asked, showing him the picture.

'Yes, I do,' Master said brightly, sitting on the desk and taking the painting, gazing at it fondly. He laughed throatily and pointed to a barely visible, short blonde man sitting at the bar in the picture, next to the twins.  
'That's me!' He laughed, and Lucy felt her eyes pop out of their sockets. 'And boy was I the ladies man back then!' A huge bead of sweat made it's way down Lucy's forehead at the last comment.

'Yes, I had just been made master a couple of years before those little brats arrived,' He chuckled, still remembering the day. Lucy smiled, but it faded as she picked up the book again.

'Master, why is this book empty though?' She didn't want to pressure him with questions, but curiosity got the better of her.

'Well,' He replied, pondering with his hand on his chin. 'You see, after a few years, this pair had gotten many names for themselves, and were considered two of the most powerful mages in Fairy Tail. Technically, they hold the record for the youngest mages to pass to S-Class...' He trailed off, trying to remember more about them.

'Wait, technically? I thought Erza was the youngest ever to pass!' Lucy exclaimed, but Master only smiled.

'Yes... I would have let them have that title, but according to the S-Class rules, they didn't deserve the title of the youngest ever to make S-Class, because the only reason they made it is because they passed the exam together, as one participant. You would never see them apart.' Lucy smiled and laid her head on her arms.

'Will you tell me about them? As much as you can remember.' Master smiled at Lucy, it had been a while since he told stories to his children.

'All right. Well, as I was saying, the twins passed their S-Class examination together, working together, fighting together, thinking together. I admired their partnership, it's what gave me the idea to have everyone work in partners for the exam on Tenrou island! But these two were something else. Only eleven years old when they passed. I was so proud of them then, but over the course of a few years, I realised something that I should've realised much sooner. They were always together, they didn't spend time with other people. Their world was so small, and they didn't like intruders...' Master sighed, staring off as memories came back to him.

_'We're going on another job, master!' The two caramel heads chimed together. Makarov looked down at the 10 year olds from his seat at the bar, running a hand through his spiky blonde hair._

_'Are you sure you guys don't want to go with some others? I'm sure you'll make a lot of friends that way...' He said kindly, but the twins shook their heads in sync, tightening their grip on the other's hand._

_'We don't need anyone else.' The sister said. Makarov felt like he had to give them that. Every job they came back from was a success, and some of the jobs they took on were too hard for some of the best mages in the guild (excluding the S-Class mages)._

_'Off you go then, brats.' He chuckled, watching them bow to him and walk out the open door to their next job..._

'Master?' Lucy's voice broke through his reverie, and he jumped, laughing awkwardly.

'You haven't told me why their book is blank yet,' she whispered, egging him to go on. However, before Makarov could keep going, a certain fire-eating dragon slayer burst into the room, a certain ice mage hot (or should I say cold?) on his heels, and a blue cat flying above their heads.

'Lucyyyy!' He called, looking around stupidly until he spotted the blonde at a table with the master. He beamed, running over to the pair.

'And gramps! Whatcha doin'?' He grinned his toothy grin and jumped into the seat next to Master, leaving Gray to take the one opposite him. The two boys peered over at the picture lucy was holding, and Natsu squinted and scratched his head. Master rolled his eyes and Lucy glared at them, signalling for Master to continue.

'I was telling Lucy a story. Would you like to hear it, you ungrateful brat?' He said kindly, and Natsu nodded furiously, like a little kid. Gray got comfortable, by, you know, stripping. Master cleared his throat and continued.

'So yes, after completing many difficult jobs, and becoming S-Class at such a young age, the twins made names for themselves. They were quite legendary amongst the mages of Fiore. Every time they came back to Magnolia, whispers would follow them. Whispers of "Satan's children", "The twin python", "The two-headed flytrap", and their most famous alias that they gained after bringing down a gathering of dark guilds: "The Twin Reapers". They acted like they didn't care what people thought of them, but they were my children, and I clearly saw how it hurt them to have their own guild afraid of who they were.'

'Wait, who are we talking about?' Natsu interrupted, his mind blank.

'SHUT UP NATSU!' Lucy and Gray yelled together.

'OH YEAH YOU WANNA FIGHT, ICICLE BREATH?'

'BRING IT FLAME HEAD!'

'WHAT DID YOU CALL ME, YOU PERVERTED STRIPPER?!'

'OH YOU HEARD ME, YOU LAVA-CONSTIPATED IDIOT!'

Before they went any further, two giant hands reached out and crushed them back into their seats. Lucy began sweating in the background, not sure if she should be afraid for the pair or glad that the Master squished them flat.

'Ahem.' Master cleared his throat and smiled innocently at his three little brats. 'As I was saying, I believed that deep down, what their own comrades said about them really hurt. Soon enough, I was the only one the pair could talk to. Like Mystogan, they just started to avoid everyone. The quests they went on became more and more dangerous, and I started to see them less and less. And then, in the year X744, I had one of the most painful experiences in my life...' He trailed off, and Lucy, Natsu, and Gray all leaned forwards in their seats, curious as to what happened in that fateful year. Their eyes widened as they saw Master's eyes getting watery.

'I let them go on a sixty-year quest.' He said finally, heavily. 'The same one Gildarts couldn't finish.'

'Whaaaaaat?!' Natsu cried out, thinking about the injuries Gildarts received in his battle from that same quest. 'You let them go on that quest?! How old were they?!'

'They were...' Master pulled a face and looked at the ceiling, thinking hard. 'Fifteen or sixteen, I think. Yes. fifteen years old. Fifteen, and I let them go on that quest.' He spoke as if cursing himself, his small hands curling into fists.

'So anyway, yes, that year... Well, a few weeks into their quest, they contacted me through a lacrima-transmitter, one that uses morse code. I had asked them to keep me updated as often as possible. But halfway through the transmission, the letters started to jumble up and the glasses on the tables were shaking... The great earthquake of '44. It didn't last long, but by the end of it, the tiles were cracked and fissured, the walls of the guild fractured and crumbling. Everyone panicked, and the first thing I did was ensure the safety of my guild members.'

As he spoke, Lucy sat entranced at his storytelling, watching him with wide eyes. His face grew more somber with every word that he spoke, and she could tell that this was a story that had waited a long time to be told.

'... I hadn't heard from the twins since the transmission was cut off, and assumed they were fine, what with their abilities. But it was the next morning when the news finally came...'

_I picked up the newspaper lying pathetically on the cracked guild doorstep. Behind me were the telltale noises of a fight, and the cries of pain and fright could still be heard in the distance. I caught a glimpse of my reflection in a rolling glass bottle, and immediately saw how my eyes stood out, dark bags reflecting all the hassle I had endured the night before. I focused on the front page of the magazine, and the bold headline stood out._

_'MAGIC EXPLOSION AT FIORE LACRIMA-WEAPON FACTORY' Something tickled in my memory at that, but all I felt was surprise at how the earthquake wasn't even mentioned on the first page. But then I saw the the first line of the story: 'Tragedy for Fairy Tail as...', and the memory clicked. "We're transmitting from the Fiore Lacrima-weapon factory east of Crocus, it's free here and it was on the way..."._

_My heart immediately sank and I felt my vision going blurry as I feverishly read through the story, only managing to pick out fragments here and there. 'Twin Reapers', 'tragic loss', 'caught in blast', 'nothing but lacrima', 'Fairy Tail must be devastated', 'many more deaths acknowledged', 'sad day for the nation'..._

'The earthquake caused a lacrima-weapon factory near them to explode, and they couldn't escape the magic blast,' he said solemnly, trying to hold back tears as his memories flooded back. 'Turned to lacrima,' He choked out.

'When I told the guild, we all rushed to the site. We searched frantically all day and through most of the night, but-'

'If they were turned to lacrima, you could have released them! I did it in Edolas!' Natsu yelled frantically, tears pricking his eyes as he imagined the pain of losing someone in the guild, losing his family. Master sighed and patted him on the head.

'I wish we could have...' He said mournfully, the tears finally squeezing out and tracing the wrinkles around his eyes. 'But the earthquake had smashed up and buried any trace of the lacrima, and even if we had found it, we didn't have the knowledge we have today to have been able to free them,' Master said sadly, staring down at the table. Next to him, both Lucy and Natsu burst into tears and hugged him, making a Makarov sandwich, as Gray gazed softly and sadly at the painting of the two twins, smiling together and looking like anything but demons.

As Lucy, Natsu, and Master sniffed and wiped their eyes, Gray stared at the book cover.

'Gramps, you didn't mention the "Two-Tailed Twins" in your list of nicknames, did you?' Master chuckled and shook his head, leaning back in his chair.

'No, I gave them that nickname myself. You see, after the accident, I decided that I would write a book about their life and adventures, but in the end, I couldn't bring myself to write about them. It was just too painful,' He said while looking at Lucy, finally answering her question. She gave him a sad smile, telling him to continue.  
'As for the nickname... Ha, I believe I gave it to them right before that picture was painted. I didn't know much about them then, and I decided that I should start with a nice, simple question, easy for kids: "if you were animals, what kind would you be?" And they told me that they would both be one animal, but have two tails, because while they were one, they were also two. It wasn't exactly the answer I was looking for, but from then on for me, they were the "Two-Tailed Twins".'

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Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think. -mneg998  
(Please excuse any grammar/spelling mistakes, I wrote this sometime last year, and I like to think that my writing skills have improved since then) ;)


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